Valentine's Day storm - Winter of 2007

Our survival as an industrialized nation may depend on our ability to resist the calls to shut down our industries by the "global warming" advocates. Much depends on our ability to remember the horrible weather from this Winter, including the Valentine's Day blizzard.

Airports have endured (and continue to endure) delays. Passengers have been trapped on runways for hours. Amtrak has cancelled service in many areas. Many people are without power throughout the Northeast. Temperatures are in the single digits with windchills below zero. Traffic has come to a standstill. Buildings have collapsed. Ten miles of Interstate 78 are closed in PA. **** update - the initial reports underestimated the traffic tie-up. Fifty miles of I-78 were closed, trapping drivers for up to a day. Parts of I-80 and I-81 were closed as of late Friday 2-16*** end update

Gas station collapse in Cleveland


building collapse in York, PA



















My own experience yesterday was somewhat uncommon because I was one of the few people on the road in southern Pennsylvania. Parking lots were inaccessible. Sidewalks were nonexistent, as pedestrians risked accidents walking in the middle of the icy roads.

Buying gasoline was difficult because the pumps were operating slowly. I and other drivers had to pry open frozen gas caps. There were as many snow plows on the road as ordinary vehicles. The plows used the gas station as a turnaround point to get back on the road as I waited with frozen fingers in the bitter wind for the pump to eke out a few gallons.

Driving at night in a snow and ice storm is unique. The snow forms a haze around lighted signs along the roadside. Everything else is dark. When the occassional vehicle approaches from the other direction, one never knows if the vehicle will spin out of control or misjudge the lanes in the absence of visible markings on the road.

My defroster was essential last night, but with frozen fingers, the temptation to redirect the heat toward myself was very powerful.

This story is mundane and easily forgettable, but that is why we must commit such stories to writing now before we are confronted with the left's falling-sky-global-warming scenario as soon as the temperatures start to rise. Write down your own stories of shoveling snow, driving, missing work, etc. Re-read them this Summer.